Lotus landscapes erect the first Christmas tree of the festive season

 

The Lotus Landscapes team has been out spreading a bit of seasonal spirit, erecting the first of many real, Christmas trees. After such a strange, topsy-turvy kind of year, it’s nice to be getting our teeth into this kind of work and looking forward to the Christmas festivities.

We’ve installed a Christmas tree for Elvetham Heath Parish Council (EHPC) for many years and this fine 20ft specimen is now sitting in the Key Centre car park waiting for its decorations.

Our EHPC grounds team collected the tree from our regular supplier “Real Christmas Trees” and armed with some help from Wilsons Grab Hire, erected the tree in double-quick time.

The EHPC grounds team, Chris and Kieran are responsible for maintenance on the Heath and will be back in January to remove the tree and recycle it. That seems a long way off right now, so let’s just look forward to welcoming the festive celebrations.

Martyn Freeman challenges the efficiency of home working

I was on the phone today trying to sort out some car insurance business via a call centre. Over the years, I have occasionally been queued with a holding message, telling me to wait because the company was experiencing higher than normal call levels. Now, the message has changed to an apology saying, “As a result of Covid19, many of our staff are remote working and we are unable to provide the usual levels of customer service.” Really?

Many companies, notably the tech companies, have embraced the enforced shift in working patterns caused by Covid19. Even with the prospect of a vaccine becoming available, they are planning for the likelihood of a distributed workforce and flexible working as a permanent, future arrangement. Of course, many staff love home working because it removes the dreaded cost and inconvenience of commuting and it improves their work-life balance. However, no one seems to be challenging how this arrangement is working from the perspective of the businesses and more importantly, its customers.

I know that home working does work well for some business models. I have recently had a brilliant exchange via video-link with the tech-support team at Curry’s. The lady who took my call was obviously working from home and able to help quickly and efficiently with a problem I had configuring my new laptop. I could even live with the sounds of kids playing and dogs barking in the background because my issue was resolved quickly and efficiently.

But my bad experience with the insurance company made me think about all the other organisations for which home working isn’t working and the potentially disastrous affect it could be having for their business. Call waiting times have increased, customer service quality has dropped, and the excuses are growing – and I can’t accept that this all has to be an inevitable consequence of a change to home working.

What is being done to address this problem? Do organisations have a plan to manage the remote, distributed workforce to ensure business as usual? Are they carrying out their Duty of Care to these people in terms of the way that have been set up and supported? In most cases the answer to these questions appears to be, “No!”

I know of several people who have just been given a laptop with a VPN connection and told to get on with it. They may not have the quality of broadband needed to do their job, nor the luxury of a small room they can adapt as a dedicated office. They may be huddled on the edge of a bed with the laptop on their knees and the heating off to save money. For these less fortunate home workers, the novelty of home working has surely worn off, raising many questions about the wellbeing of individuals working in isolation for extended periods. I worry that this is a ticking time bomb that could result in a wave of sickness and injury claims in 2021.

The army of homeworkers has risen steadily back to one in three of the workforce during this second period of lockdown. The FM industry could be doing a lot more to support them in areas such as health, safety, and welfare. Simple DSE display screen assessments, risk assessments of the home-working area and provision and installation of ergonomic chairs, workstations and computer tech accessories, would be a simple and obvious step forward. Instead, the best I’ve heard of is an employer sending staff a box of Krispy-Kreme donuts on a Friday.

Who knows how much longer this pandemic emergency will be with us, or whether home working will become the norm? I can see that if the situation persists, then it may force a complete change in the way that we work – not just in terms of what we do, and how and where we do it, but also the nature of the relationship employees have with their employer. What if people get such a real taste for this detached lifestyle, that they strike out to embrace it completely? The last decade has seen the rise of the freelancer and the distancing that Covid19 is placing between employer and employee may stimulate a surge in portfolio workers, working on their terms to deliver their own skill or specialism. Thoughts for another blog perhaps?

A regular blog from the MF in FM – Martyn Freeman

 

I was strolling through an eerily quiet Canary Wharf this week and was struck by just how different London is right now – even before the next lockdown. I met an old friend from the FM sector, and we chatted over a socially distanced coffee about all the changes the Covid19 pandemic had enforced on his facility’s operation.

He’s now working at a senior level for a major international bank which like so many businesses based in the capital, has been wrestling with the problem of ensuring business continuity whilst protecting the wellbeing of employees and customers attending the offices.

With occupancy at record low levels (around 10% of staff are in the office on a typical day), I’d have expected the whole FM operation to be wound back to save cost. However, the reality here has been quite different. In particular, the cleaning team is fully operational, focusing even more intensely on cleanliness and housekeeping. The name of the game is about cleaners being highly visible, providing confidence for everyone in the building and reinforcing the perception that the company is doing the right thing for everyone.

I am really encouraged by the way that cleaning companies haves stepped up in this way, in response to the global pandemic but find it ironic that it’s taken something like Covid19 to bring about such a long-overdue change in the industry. For the first time in my memory, cleaning and hygiene services are being driven up the value chain. Who could have imagined a year ago that cost and price would no longer be the one and only deciding factor in client discussions?

At last, suppliers can demonstrate innovation and real differentiation in their service offering and can shift the discussion away from cost towards quality, effectiveness and value. As we finished our coffee, I reminded my old friend that this was the driving motivation forces behind the creation of Q3 two years ago – Quality Service, Quality People, Quality Clients. We were being pioneers had we only known, what was to follow!

I wonder when we’ll enjoy our next coffee together?